Dec 18, 2000
Accident
Destroyed West Mifflin, PA
Injuries2 serious
Phase of Flight-
ConditionsVMC
OperationFAR 091
Probable Cause
Insufficient lubrication within the tail rotor gearbox, which resulted in the seizure of the duplex ball bearing and a fixed pitch setting of the tail rotor. Also causal, was the pilot's loss of control, which was the result of a relative low speed/high power combination during a go-around attempt. A factor was the manufacturer's lack of procedures for fixed tail rotor pitch settings.
NTSB NYC01LA059